I've Kept This Single Faith4 Out Of 5 Stars
For a comeback album, Sting aligned as many stars for this project as he could. "Brand New Day" features Stevie Wonder's harmonica on the title track, James Taylor drops in, as do many others. As a follow-up to the lackluster "Mercury Falling," he obviously wanted everything in its right place.
Which is odd, because the music plays with risks. The left field hit "Desert Rose" fields Middle Eastern rhythms along with an Arabic (I believe) backup vocal. Sting takes another stab at country with "Fill Her Up," complete with pedal steel and a gospel chorus at the end that exhorts, "Fill Her up with Jesus! Fill Her up with love" before breaking into a jazz piano ending. In anyone else's hands, this would sound clumsy and awkward, in Sting's it all sounds natural.
That's not to say that Sting is playing loose. The sound of the album is meticulous as usual, with the players all being good soldiers and filling out their places on the album in precise fashion. Even the rap in "Perfect Love Gone Wrong" sounds like it was laid in place by architects. But that's what our man Sting has always been about. Think about how serious his "On A Winter's Night" is, and that's his Holiday album. "Brand New Day" was more of that perfect plans of mice and men laid down with impeccable skill, with the good fortune of have Sting and a batch of good singing and playing to match the songs.
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